Dartmouth equestrian tied for second with Mount Ida College at Saturday's home show, finishing one point behind the University of Vermont. Dartmouth now stands third in the region with 163 points, behind Vermont (181) and Mount Ida (173). Nine of the region's 13 teams competed in the show.
"I felt that each and every team member put in great rides on Saturday, and it led to a tie for reserve champion team, only one point behind regional leader Vermont," said equestrian team coach Sally Batton, "I was really proud of Tim Malone for bringing home the High Point Rider ribbon."
Malone '07 qualified for the day-ending high point rider work-off by winning both his fences and flat class.
"I was happy with all three of my rides. I felt like I got a little lucky in my flat class, since I made a few mistakes that my horse reacted to, but luckily the judge didn't see or attributed them to the horse," Malone said.
Second place was certainly an improvement on the previous week's fifth-place finish at the Mount Ida horse show, which was won by the host team. The University of New Hampshire finished second and Vermont third.
At the Dartmouth show, first place finishers included Malone in Open Flat and Open Fences, Daisy Freund '08 in Open Fences, Kate Wooler '08 in Intermediate Fences, Janelle Moerlein '06 in Intermediate Flat, Lizzy Rauner '06 in Intermediate Flat, Elizabeth Bissell '08 in Intermediate Flat and Lily Macartney '08 in Novice Fences. Red ribbon winners included Abby Donahue '06 in Open Flat, Wooler in Open Flat, Taylor Smith '06 in Intermediate Flat, Tami Martin '08 in Intermediate Flat, Macartney in Novice Flat, Amanda Watson '09 in Novice Flat, Karelle Hall '08 in Walk/Trot/Canter, Jane Park '06 in Walk/Trot and Jeff Brown '05 in Walk/Trot. Thirds went to Freund in Open Flat, Lauren Pfisterer '06 in Novice Fences, Katherine Scovner '08 in Novice Flat, Alanna Purdy '09 in Walk/Trot/Canter and Rachel LaRocca '09 in Walk/Trot/Canter.
"Home shows are a lot more stressful for team members," said co-captain Donahue, "In addition to the pressure of competing, we also are responsible for making sure the entire show runs smoothly. The team handled this added task very well. We even had an entertaining half time show performed by our new team members."
Donahue, the shortest rider on the team at less than five feet tall, continued an unfortunate trend of drawing the most unsuitable horses.
"I carried on my unlucky tradition of randomly drawing the biggest horse, not once, but twice on Saturday. Despite this, he was a good boy, and I was satisfied with my rides," she said.
Macartney, a first year transfer student, had her best finishes of the season Saturday.
"Intercollegiate showing is really different from anything I've ever done, so it's been sort of a learning process. The shows are really fun, it's especially nice to have the team dynamic since riding can be such an individual sport," said Macartney, the team's newest member. "I think that our captains have done a great job welcoming the new members, and making us feel a part of the team."
Also finishing strongly on Saturday was Wooler, who recently moved up to both Intermediate Fences and Open Flat.
"I'm excited that I had two good rides and that I placed well even in harder divisions this weekend, but I felt that being at home and having good horse draws contributed to my performance a lot," Wooler said.
Freund and Malone's performances over the weekend solidified their place atop the region's Caccione Cup standings, a special division for Open riders that combines fences and flat points. Freund currently leads with 56 points, followed by Malone with 52.
This Sunday, Dartmouth heads to the University of New Hampshire for the first of the last two shows of the fall season.
"We have two shows remaining, and I'm hoping the team can pull some good horses and have some outstanding rides," Batton said. "We won the UNH show by a landslide last year and I'm hoping we can do the same in order to put us back into first place in the Region."
